By Myra Lee Adams Goff

An outstanding early citizen of New Braunfels and one who contributed much to the culture of the community was a man named Stefan Haelbig. Haelbig organized many of the early musical groups and was the music instructor of hundreds of children and adults alike in voice as well as musical instruments. He generally made music a big part of the community. His studio was moved to Conservation Plaza and open for all to see.

Stefan Haelbig emigrated to New Braunfels from Germany through Indianola in 1868 at age 40. His obituary states that he worked in the woolen mills and resided at the Waisenhaus (orphanage) for a year and a half, giving music instruction from there. He instructed piano, French horn, cello, violin, cornet, clarinet and voice.

Haelbig had received extensive musical training in Germany. He had been the bandmaster of a Regimental band in the Austrian Army, and had played Wagnerian (Richard Wagner) music while Wagner himself was the conductor. With a few local musicians, he was able to put together an orchestra to perform the finest of classical music. Those local musicians were listed as Father Blum, Hermann Schimmelpfennig, Mr. Wenzel, Bose and Eberhard. They, however, were amateurs but Haelbig exhibited the greatest patience and persistence, thereby guiding them into playing the classics. Many fine musical events were held in the old Matzdorff’s Halle and Seele’s Halle on the Guadalupe. Concerts were also held at the Seekatz Opera House, featuring the Haelbig orchestra and selected singers.

Not only in instrumental music was he a leader, but also in vocal music. He founded and became leader of the Maennerchor and Concordia Mixed Chorus. He organized the New Braunfels Music Club and its orchestra. Mrs. Lottie Faust was the pianist for this orchestra. In addition he gave lessons several times a week in San Antonio.

When Haelbig was 83, a celebration was given in his honor. Joseph Faust and A.C. Coers told of his abilities and called him the soul of music in New Braunfels. They raised their glasses and gave a toast, “Er lebe hoch, Er lebe hoch, Er lebe hoch”.When the glass was raised, the salute was given in this manner, showing high admiration The literal translation is “He lives high”.

Before being moved to Conservation Plaza, Haelbig’s studio was located on Seguin Street. After he vacated it, the building became Voigt’s Shoe Repair and that’s how I remember it. There was after all a time when people had their leather shoes repaired instead of replaced. Putting on a new sole or a new heel could add years more service to a shoe. The building was moved to Conservation in the early 1980s and the lot became the site of Pizza Hut and is now Taqueria El Tapatio.

There are some interesting things inside the Haelbig studio at Conservation Plaza. You would expect a piano, although it is not Haelbig’s. Paul Jahn’s cello stands up against the wall. Al Schnabel’s trumpet, the “wiggle and wobble with Al Schnabel” orchestra leader and student of Haelbig. There are pictures of former students, names familiar from the past like: Bading, Fischer, Gerlich, Gruene, Heidrich, Naegelin, Marckwardt, Koebig, Jahn, Oelkers, Voelcker, Coreth, Altgelt, Schultz .There is a tiny trumpet, no longer than 8 inches called a piccolo trumpet. Used in classical music, this instrument plays tones higher than a regular trumpet.

Remember that Haelbig once played Wagnerian music in Germany with Richard Wagner as conductor? Hanging on the wall are three pictures from the operas, “Ring of the Nibelung”, a collection of fantasy-filled operas of Norse Mythology. The first picture is the Rhine Maidens, the second is Siegfried Slaying the Dragon, and the last is Brunhilde, all characters from the four Ring operas. Glorifying ancient war heroes in mythology, Wagner operas became controversial at different times in history.

Stefan Haelbig died at age 90. His obituary ends with, “Here in the beautiful city of New Braunfels, he made an impression which is more beautiful and more lasting than any monument of marble - the love and appreciation of music”. Er lebe hoch, hoch, hoch!

Stefan Haelbig, early musician and teacher. Sophienburg photo.

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

Don’t we all love the feeling of an old-fashioned Christmas? Once again, the Sophienburg has decorated for the Christmas season, but this year wins the prize.

The collection and exhibit ladies have put together a dollhouse display of 14 different dollhouses plus small doll collections.

Entering the foyer is a large dollhouse at one time belonging to the late Bill and Nan Dillon. The house is decorated with furniture representing the 1870s to present day. Furniture includes Bentwood chairs from the 1900s and handmade furniture. Immediately across from this house is a unique “garden home” from the 1800s. The table and chairs are set with a tiny tea set.

Also in the foyer, a nine-foot tree holds a collection of 90 plus small dolls from around the world. This collection was given to the Sophienburg years ago by the late Thekla Wright. She and her husband, Dr. Rennie Wright, collected these dolls in their vast travels.

Next is a three-storied Victorian style house built by Richard and Merlene Hitz for Allison Humphries, daughter of Mike and Linda Dietert.  This house with its furnishings dating from 1990 to 2000 can be viewed from the front and the back.

Enter the Museum where there is a replica of an early cabin showing an old fashioned pioneer home.  Christmas at the Waisenhaus (orphanage) of Rev. Louis and Luise Ervendberg has been recreated. For many years, the Timmermann sisters of Geronimo, who were descendants of the Ervendbergs, created this scene at Christmastime for many to see. Underneath the cedar tree decorated with candy and cookies is an elaborate Nativity at Bethlehem. The tree is surrounded by honeycomb rocks, which was a common practice in New Braunfels.

Inside the “Newspaper” display area is a folding paper dollhouse, a 1990 reproduction of an 1890 Victorian house belonging to archivist Keva Boardman. This dollhouse is easily moved from one place to another.

Perhaps the most unusual of all the displayed houses is in the museum’s “Pharmacy” section. It is a house made of a packing crate containing packages of coconut. After the packages were sold, the remaining crate revealed lithographs of the inside of a house. The crate, when stood on end, represented four rooms. Shelley Weidner owns the Coconut House, at one time belonging to twins Carmen (Lee) and Cosima (Langwell) Schnable.

In the “Saloon” is a model of the old Sophienburg Museum made by a student and in the “Barbershop” is a boy’s version of a dollhouse – a metal 1960s barn and silo from the Jerome Bodeman collection. Moving on to the “Doctor’s Office” you see a Dura-craft 1970s dollhouse made from a kit furnished with items from 1980s and ’90s.

In the 1960s, the trend in dollhouses was to make them of metal. One displayed belongs to Yvonne Rahe and one belongs to Meredeth Neiman. Plastic and metal furniture became popular at this time. In the “General Store” there is a plywood house made from a kit.

My dollhouse given to me in 1934 by my grandfather, builder A.C. Moeller, actually has electric lights (Christmas tree lights from the ’30s). The dollhouse was constructed by Richard Ikels, who was the cabinetmaker for him. Patterned in the bungalow style of the time, it contains arches separating the six rooms plus stucco walls and hardwood floors. The original wooden furniture remains in my memory only. Present furnishings were collected by Goff daughters and granddaughters.

Upon exiting the Museum, one sees a two-room 1920s house owned by Betty Stobaugh. The house was constructed by Betty’s father and all the furnishings were ordered from Germany.

Finally a wardrobe from the museum collection is filled with small dolls and next to it a feather tree holding a tiny baby doll collection.

The exhibit will be open all of December. The price is $5 per person; or you could come to The St. Nick celebration on Dec. 5 for $5 a family.

Sophie Paige Kelly, daughter of Cate Kelly and Ryan Kelly, admires the doll houses in the Sophienburg's exhibit. Michael and Bette Spain, as well as her great-grandmother, Marie Offerman, are active volunteers and supporters of the Sophienburg Museum and Archives.

By Myra Lee Goff

What is under about 100 feet of water in Canyon Lake? Or better still, what would still be there if the lake had not been constructed?

I started looking and found out: ranch land, farm land, trees, cemeteries, Guadalupe River and the site of two very small communities, Hancock and Cranes Mill.

Plans for the improvement of the Guadalupe River Water Shed by building a dam go as far back as 1929. A survey was made in 1935 and was authorized 10 years later. Four sites were considered, with the one chosen 21 miles from New Braunfels. Construction began in 1960, and by 1964 when the gates were finally closed, the lake began to fill.

With a shoreline of 80 miles, reservoir storage was estimated at 740,900 acre feet. Total cost of the project was around $20.2 million, with about $3 million more than projected due to road work and north and south access roads (source: Alton Rahe’s “History of Sattler and Mountain Valley School”).

Some 500,000 cubic yards of material were hauled to the dam site out of a rock quarry owned by Roland and Gladys Erben. In a Reflections tape made for the Sophienburg, they said holes were drilled with air hammers. The holes were filled with ammonium nitrate and set off with a dynamite charge, causing 5,000 pounds of rock blasting each time.

Now under water, the small settlement of Hancock would be there. It was named after the land’s original owner, John Hancock, who in 1851 was granted the land on the north bank of the Guadalupe River.

Eventually, Frank Guenther acquired the land and established a store and opened a Post Office in 1916. This Post Office was closed in 1934 and, according to Oscar Haas, the population of Hancock in 1940 was 10.

Frank Guenther was one of the children of Christian Guenther, one of the orphans raised by the Ervendbergs at the Weisenhaus (orphanage). Christian Guenther came from Germany with his parents and his three siblings in 1845. His mother and two siblings died aboard ship and his father died in Texas in 1847, leaving 8-year-old Christian as an orphan. As an adult, Christian settled in Sattler, raised a family of six children, one of which was Frank Guenther (source: Brenda Anderson Lindeman’s “Spring Branch”).

The other community under Canyon Lake would be Cranes Mill. James Crain established a cypress shingle mill in the 1850s along the Guadalupe. Notice the spelling which changed from “Crain” to “Crane” after the Civil War.

My neighbor Olive Marcelle Hofheinz, is the g-granddaughter of a very well-known man in the Cranes Mill area, the Rev. August Engel. Engel arrived in Texas in 1846 and came to New Braunfels where he married his wife and then moved to the area known as Luckenbach.

They began that General Merchandising Store that we know. It was his home and they named Luckenbach after their son-in-law.

The Engels moved to Cranes Mill in 1870, there opening a store and establishing a Post Office he ran for 31 years. But Engel had another calling: He was a circuit-riding preacher in the river valley, Rebecca Creek, Cranes Mill, Twin Sisters and sometimes in New Braunfels. His wife was a midwife. The two of them performed many services for all the people in the area.

In 1890 August Engel’s son, August W. Engel, took over the store and the Post Office and remained there until 1935. Marcelle Hofheinz remembers Cranes Mill Post Office.

The Post Office was in the center of the store and it was enclosed in fine mesh wire, protecting cornmeal and flour from mice.

When Canyon Dam was being constructed over a six-year period, my husband Glyn drove our family of three children to the North Park overlook and took slides at least three times a month. After that, we would go to the Roland Erben ranch to look for rocks. Rock hunting became a lifelong hobby for all of us.

As for Glyn’s slides, you can view them detailing the construction of Canyon Dam by visiting http://www.co.comal.tx. us/CCHC.htm.

What's under Canyon Lake? The remains of the Hancock store disappeared below the waters of Canyon Lake.